AN airline which has temporarily restored one international flight from Newcastle has ruled out the return of permanent flights abroad from the region.

EasyJet has said it has "no plans" to increase any of its existing routes, both domestically or internationally, from the North-East airport.

It comes as the airline last year axed all international flights from Newcastle and closed its long-term base there, leaving flights to just two destinations, Belfast and Bristol.

Read more: easyJet to permanently axe all international flights from Newcastle

But to the surprise of some last month, the airline said it would be operating flights to Faro in Portugal as a "one-off" season, following a surge in demand.

However, confirming there were no current plans to make a return internationally on a permanent level, the airline told The Northern Echo: “We continuously monitor our network for any opportunities however we don’t currently have any further additional flying planned from Newcastle.

"Currently all of our flying operates from other bases across the UK and Europe with the Faro flight operating from Faro.”

Following its decision to close its Newcastle base, EasyJet had been hit by a barrage of criticisms in recent months with some raising concerns over refunds for cancelled flights.

Read more: easyJet sorry after County Durham woman left waiting almost a year for refund

More recently, the airline had to apologise after a County Durham woman had been left waiting for almost a year to secure a refund of £110.

Following EasyJet's statement, Newcastle Airport said it has a "long-standing relationship," which has been continued with the flights to Belfast and Bristol.

An airport spokesperson said that despite the Covid pandemic, it had still managed to secure a raft of new routes with alternative operators.

They said: "Newcastle International Airport has a long standing relationship with easyJet and the airline has maintained its year-round services to Belfast and Bristol from the region.

"The airline is also one of five, alongside Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, TUI, Ryanair and British Airways to operate flights from Newcastle to Faro, Portugal this summer - thanks to the country being given 'Green List' status.

"Over 80 per cent of the international destinations affected by EasyJet's decision to close its base are already served by our existing partners.

"Barcelona was a popular destination which was not served by another airline and we were delighted in April to announce that Vueling will operate twice weekly flights to the popular Spanish city from July.

"Despite the Covid-19 pandemic the Airport has secured new routes to Zadar in Croatia and Chania in Crete with Ryanair, Frankfurt with Lufthansa as well as a brand new airline, Corendon, which will operate flights to Turkey in Summer 2022.

The spokesperson added it was looking forward to welcoming passengers back to the airport, while it's first flight to a "green list" country took off yesterday.

"Over the coming weeks and months we look forward to welcoming more passengers back to the Airport for their well-deserved holidays and we continue to work with our airline partners to build on the choice of over 70 destinations currently available from Newcastle International Airport," they added.